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Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on October 31, 2010 at 1:59pm

There was a little too much God in it for me, but as an atheist, I suppose any God is too much God. That opening song by John Legend had everyone in the crowd (at least around me) looking around like, "Um, what?" That set the tone, and was a very poor choice for the crowd. I saw a great sign that said "My fear ate your flying spaghetti monster" with the FSM on there. Was very funny.

When he announced Kid Rock would be playing WITH Sheryl Crow, my reaction was like Cavs fans on Decision Day. "Uggggggggggggggggggh!" One of them is bad enough. Together, just putrid. Jeffy Tweedy and that Gospel Singer woman killed the energy of the crowd.

Maybe you had to be there, but that segment with Yousef, Ozzy Osborne and the OJs was really awesome. Overall it was exactly what I expected. The Daily Show on a huge scale and some music sparsed between. But the crowd was really amazing. Some really funny moments in there. I think the ultimate success of the rally was, for at least one day, getting all sane people together to celebrate being alive and making fun of those of us who aren't.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on October 31, 2010 at 4:42pm

Some "Dear God, I find it so hard to do thy bidding (because you don't exist)" Parentheses and emphasis mine piece of trash. Third song of the rally, first special guest to play with the Roots.

Was talking about this with my girlfriend... inclusion of religion to this rally seems counter-productive. I may be completely biased here, but since we live in a secular government, shouldn't religion be deliberately left out of a rally to restore sanity to the country??? It was just really weird, especially since there was a huge contingent of Atheists there.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan Hevenstone on October 31, 2010 at 3:25pm

I do disagree with PZ that is should have been more political.

I what Jon and Stephen were going for was perfect. I think it was the execution that failed. Here's my take as I posted it on CARM:

The opening was... bad. I do not like rap, hip hop, or R&B, but I think the Roots are pretty decent (and their guitarist is absolutely incredible!... I'd love to see what he could do with Jimi Hendrix music)... that said, an hour of this music was entirely pointless. The whole Cat Stevens vs. Ozzy Osbourne thing was just plain stupid, IMO, including the O'Jay's "Love Train" performance. Indeed, I think Stephen Colbert's whole role was entirely pointless. He should have left his character back in New York, IMO, and came as himself... you know... the guy you see in interviews talking about his character. I understand the point of what he was trying to say, but I think he failed miserably. And note that I'm a huge fan of his. After all, the Daily Show and Colbert Report are tied for my #1 favorite shows on Television, and they will be so for as long as they air with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as hosts.

Indeed, I'm convinced that, thanks to the rhetoric you see on the 24-hour news cycle, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are the only two people you're going to see cutting through the BS and getting to the truth of the matter... on anything.

The fact that Kid Rock performed one of the most serious songs at the rally was really sad, IMO, even though his performance with Sheryl Crowe was very good (and I do not like either artist... just not my style). The Mythbusters' bit was also utterly inane. The Mythbusters is another show that makes my top 5, and always will... but they really failed, IMO.

I did love Jeff Tweedy's and Mavis Staple's performance. I thought Tony Bennett did a great job singing America the Beautiful, and 4Troops doing the National Anthem was good, too. Sam Waterson is a great actor, and he did do a good job reading Stephen Colbert's poem, but I thought the poem was anti-climactic.

It was Jon Stewart's closing speech that made me say "finally". It was a very good speech, and exemplified what I felt should have been there from the beginning. His analogy was perfect, and his call to stop stereotyping was very well put forward. I realize that this is what Jon and Stephen had been using their "dual" to say, but I thought it was the speech that actually said it, not the whole dual thing, which I feel failed spectacularly.

Anyways, that's my take. I think Peter Daou said it best on Twitter with the following Tweets:

Great turnout, but so far the #rally4sanity seems aimless and unfunny. Stark contrast with Beck's sinister legacy theft & co-opting of honor

Two words to describe the #rally4sanity: wasted opportunity

I didn't expect Colbert/Stewart to conduct a liberal political rally, I expected from them what they do best: satire. Not cheap SNL outtakes

Link to 1st tweet
Link to 2nd tweet
Link to 3rd tweet

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Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on October 31, 2010 at 4:51pm

PZ completely missed the point of what Stewart was trying to say. He wasn't saying, "Pipe down" to those working for social change. He was saying that pundits of the media, of which PZ Myers is a member, should stop making fear stories where fear is not necessary. It's one thing to have a serious problem, and we do have them, which JS acknowledged, but it's another to make small problems seem like the end of the country, and then ask why those problems are considered so big? It's ridiculous. And on that point, JS is completely right. Liberal media pundits, namely Keith Olbermann (I follow his tweets so he's the one that comes up) won't like it, because they think it's False Equivalency, but it is not. You can still have your facts right and be a proponent of fear, and that's exactly what some MSNBC hosts and CNN hosts do. SIDENOTE: Notice how there were no clips of Rachel Maddow or countless other big time hosts.

Also, he was saying that Americans CAN and SHOULD work together to solve problems and that we work together on small tasks every day (his tunnel merge analogy) regardless of personal beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on November 1, 2010 at 12:34pm

Yea, he could have mentioned that tactic. LOL though.

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Permalink Reply by Mallory on October 31, 2010 at 4:02pm

I thought it was fantastic. I'm not very political, but I find myself agreeing with Stewart most of the time and laughing at Colbert, so this was right up my alley.

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Permalink Reply by Jason on October 31, 2010 at 4:43pm

I went. It was packed. Tons of people. Never had I or probably ever will be around so many that think the way i do.

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Permalink Reply by dataguy on October 31, 2010 at 8:11pm

Had a blast.. more fun than I was expecting and I was expecting to have a lot of fun.

I totally blew transportation.. didn't pre-purchase our Amtrak tickets. My wife and I found an older gentleman and a young couple who also needed a ride, and we rented a car.

Spent the day with these new found friends. It was incredible to be with like-minded people.

Obviously they hadn't planned for such a crowd. We almost made it to the Mall from 7th street (Where Jesus had climbed a traffic light pole!) I could see a jumbo-tron briefly if I stood on the tips of my toes, but I couldn't make out what was being said.

Can't wait to get home and watch the videos online. From what I heard, it was a class-act from beginning to end.

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Permalink Reply by Reggie on November 1, 2010 at 12:40am

To be fair, Beck was only about fear. Stewart and Colbert tapped into both the sanity and the fear markets to generate crowds.

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Permalink Reply by Kristen Powell on November 1, 2010 at 1:10am

I went and had a good time. Jon Stewart has been disappointing me as of late, so I was actually attending the "Fear" portion. I was also upset that Father Sarducci didn't ask about atheists, because he was getting a really lukewarm response for all of the other religions, so I was interested to know how many cheers "non-believers" would get. He could have made it funny by calling us baby-eating atheists, even, but alas, it wasn't to be. He had my hopes up when he asked about Rastafarians though...

The music at the beginning was definitely a bummer. Also, I was sad that the T|A people didn't exactly make themselves easy to find. I don't have a fancy phone, so an Internet update at 3:22 p.m. with what people look like didn't cut it. Perhaps if someone was wearing a T|A t-shirt or had a sign... Matt and I were there for a long time, and I be-bopped around showing off my atheist tattoo to every person in the room, and nobody let me know they were there for T|A. So, bummer again on that, but for those of you who did get to meet up, I'm sure you had a blast, and I'm sorry I missed it.

TL; DR: Excellent, relaxing, fun time. Glad I went even though music blew.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on November 1, 2010 at 12:37pm

That really sucks. We were a group sitting in the corner. Would have loved to meet you.

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Permalink Reply by Justine Robinson on November 1, 2010 at 6:54am

I was there with my Young Democrats of America High School Group and it was so awesome! My group was to the left side of the huge white tents, so we could see the stage but the TV cameras were blocking the people. It was well worth the ten hour drive there and back in a cramped bus completely full of 28 people. Also standing up for five hours straight, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to go there!

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